Izuna: Legend of the 5 year old Ninja!
by FeeptheNinja
Summary: Heeyyy, Izuna's age finally matches her actions! Will follow main plot of the games, but Shino is going to have a much more prominent role because ARE YOU REALLY GOING TO LET YOUR 5 YEAR OLD BABY SISTER FIGHT MONSTERS LARGER THAN YOURSELF yeah no. AU.


**Izuna: Legend of the… 5-year-old Ninja?**

**A/N: Heeyyy, Izuna's age finally matches her actions! Anyway, HUGE AU alert. Oh so much AU. Still trying to follow the main plot of the games, but Shino is going to have a much more prominent role because ARE YOU REALLY GOING TO LET YOUR 5 YEAR OLD BABY SISTER FIGHT MONSTERS LARGER THAN YOURSELF yeah didn't think so. Anyway. The only one who's changed age here is Izuna. Main pairing: Izuna/Shino, family. I'm sorry, but I've fallen in love with the pairing. IT'S TOO FRIKKIN ADORABLE~**

Shino's alarm always went off at exactly 8:45 in the morning. Despite there not being any more advanced clock than a sundial or an hourglass. How was this possible? Simple.

Door slams open. The bed bounces. Two little hands on her chest and "SHINO-SIS! Wake up wake up wake up wake up wake up wake up wake up wake up wake up wake up wake up wake up- *pantpant* WAKE UP!"

One word: Izuna.

Shino sighed and attempted to roll over, but was stopped by the rambunctious 5-year-old ninja before she could manage to bury her head back under her pillow.

"Izuna," she groaned, "Couldn't you let me get just a _little _more sleep?"

The pink-haired child pretended to consider it for about two seconds, then shook her head and chirped, "Nope!"

Another sigh. "That's what I thought. Well, at _least_ let me sit up."

Izuna happily obliged to that request, sliding into Shino's lap and beaming up at the older ninja. "Good morning~" she giggled, sticking out her tongue slightly.

"Oh, you." Shino rolled her eyes good-naturedly, ruffling the child's hair. Izuna laughed again, nuzzling the underside of Shino's chin.

"Yes, me!" She grinned. "Shino-Sis, what are we gonna do today? _Are_ we gonna do anything today? Can we go to Suirei Town again?"

"Hey, slow down! I can't answer three questions at once!" Shino threw up her hands. "Now, start again from the beginning."

"What are we gonna do today-y-y?" Izuna asked again, punctuating the 'ay' with a few little bounces.

"Well, I have to go down to Asasi Village…" Shino said, wincing slightly as she saw Izuna's face fall. "And I know you don't much like going down there." She offered.

"Awwwwww…" Izuna moaned, slumping against Shino. "Do you really have to leave?"

"Yes, I do." Shino sighed again. "But I won't be long, I promise. Okay?" She asked, drawing the young ninja into a hug. "Okay?"

"Okay…" Izuna mumbled, begrudgingly peeling herself away from her _oneechan_ and running off into the kitchen.

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

Izuna sighed and threw another rock into the pond.

She really didn't like it when her Shino-Sis had to leave to go somewhere, but it wasn't like she could stop her. And besides, she was sure that she had a good reason.

Izuna's eyes alit on a pile of leaves by the small pond's edge. Smiling, she picked up a few and floated them on the surface of the water. She let them be for a few seconds, and then she splashed her hand through the water, creating a wave and sinking the 'boats'. A huge grin settled on her face as she repeated her actions again, managing to sink four at once before-

"Hey, it's the pink-hair weirdo." An older boy sneered at Izuna, who looked up from her game with a blank expression. "And what, may I ask, are you doing?"

"I'm pretending to be Suiren!" Izuna smiled, splashing up another wave. "See?"

"Ha!" The boy burst into laughter, turning to his two buddies. "Didja hear that? Pinky here's pretending to be _a_ _god_! Ha!" It wasn't long before all three were cackling hysterically.

"Uh-huh!" Izuna nodded, still smiling. "Do you wanna play too?"

The boy halted his laughter, smirking at the young girl. "Oh, yeah, _sure. _Here, lemme _help_ you with that!" He then roughly shoved Izuna into the water. "Heeyyy, maybe if you sit in the water long enough, you'll get a fish tail, too!"

Izuna surfaced, struggling and spitting out water. "Hey!" she spluttered. "Why-" She stopped suddenly when she felt a hard tug on her head.

She looked up to see the boy smiling meanly, holding up her trademark triangular goggles. He shook them in her face, leering with an expression that said 'come and get them'.

"Hey! Those are mine!" Izuna yelled, launching out of the water and leaping for her most prized possession. The boy snickered and held the goggles just out of her reach.

"Oh, _really_? Well, I guess they're mine now!" The boy laughed.

Izuna started to panic. "No! No! No, they're _mine_, you big bully! Give them _back_!" she yelled at the top of her lungs.

"Oh, so now I'm a 'big bully', squirt? Well, then, I- OWWW!" He doubled over in pain, dropping the goggles into Izuna's hands. The girl, in her alarm, had leapt up and kneed him _hard_ in the crotch. Realizing what she'd done, Izuna darted off in the direction of the shrine, hoping that he wouldn't follow.

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

Izuna was breathing fast and hard by the time she made it to the shrine. With a small wail, she slumped down on one of the rocks and put her forehead on her knees, shivering.

Why were those boys always so mean to her? She hadn't done anything wrong, had she? And it wasn't only the boys- the girls would never play with her either, not even Hinagiku. Why did nobody like her?

Sniffling, she drew a few small symbols in the sand with a stick. Her gaze lingered on a heart shape, and she retraced it with her finger. She… could sort of remember when she was very young; she guessed about two years old, that there had been _two_ heartbeats. Whenever Shino-Sis would pick her up and hold her close, another person would come and hug them both, so she was in the middle. She remembered a sweet scent, just a little different than Shino-Sis's, and a loving voice, and most prominently, two heartbeats, one on each side of her, Shino-Sis's and another. She missed that second heart. She asked Shino-Sis who it was, once, but she changed the subject quickly and never did answer the question.

She kicked at the ground, first softly, then harder, and harder again. She got down on all fours and pushed. Nothing. She blew air out of her mouth, she tried to bring water out of the ground, she tried to will a leaf to burn, and all resulted in absolutely nothing. Discouraged, she flopped face down on the ground.

She wanted to be special. More than anything on Earth, she wanted to be special, to be able to do something that no one else could do. She wanted to be a god, a god of _something_, _**anything**_! She honestly couldn't care less what it was, but she wanted to be able to do something cool too. Maybe if she could do something like that, then maybe everyone would stop teasing her. Maybe somebody would play with her then.

She sighed and sat up. Her gaze flicked around the large area, settling on the large crystal in the center. Huh. She'd never seen that there before. Stumbling to her feet, she walked towards the jewel as if drawn to it. Her breath caught in her throat as she stared. This crystal… This crystal held the power of the gods, didn't it? Maybe… If she touched it, would she get the power of the gods, too? Hesitantly, she reached out and cupped the light blue jewel in her hands. It was pleasantly cool, and heavy in her hands. She turned it around in her grasp, holding it up to the light, watching transfixed as the sun's rays glinted off of it.

Suddenly- the ground shook. Izuna yelped in fright and tripped to the ground.

_You have broken the taboo and disrupted our powers…_

"What? Who- who's talking? Who's there?" Izuna yelled, curling up in terror, trembling all over.

_**Foolish humans… You shall pay for your crime!**_

"Aaa-aaa-aaah!" The girl shrieked, dropping the jewel and running out of the shrine like her tail was on fire.

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

Izuna charged through the town, eventually sliding to a halt in front of her house, gasping for air. What did she just do? Why had that voice yelled at her? She shivered again.

"Right, thank you, Azuki."

Oh! That was Shino-Sis! Izuna wasted no time in barreling towards the source of the voice, arms out wide.

"Shino-Sis! Shino-Sis! You're back, you're back, you're back, you're back-" The young girl chanted, launching toward her elder sister for a fierce hug. Only-

She felt Shino push her away. "God, I get it. Don't be so annoying." She growled, beginning to walk off. Izuna was confused. She followed along behind her _oneechan, _beginning to talk again.

"So what didja do? What didja do at Asasi Village? Huh? What didja-" She said cheerfully, tugging slightly at the edge of Shino's shirt. However, instead of the playful response she usually got from Shino, the elder ninja whirled around angrily. Izuna noticed that her eyes had clouded over. Cocking her head to the side slightly, she asked, puzzled, "Shino-Sis? Shino-Sis, what's wron-"

_Smack._

Izuna stepped back in shock, hand automatically reaching up to her now-sore cheek. Shino had slapped her. But Shino-Sis had never, ever hit her before!

"S-Shino-Sis…?" She whispered, tears already pooling in her eyes.

"I told you to _shut up_, you little _brat_." Shino snarled.

"…" Izuna's throat tightened and she wheeled around and ran off towards the forest.

Shino blinked. Wait… what? Why was Izuna running off? What had she…

Oh God.

Did- did she just slap Izuna? Did she just…?

"_Shit!" _Shino whispered to herself. Why did she just do that? She took off after the younger girl, yelling "IZUNA! Izuna, I'm sorry! Izuna! Izuna?"

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

Izuna tripped and fell head over heels down a small hill, coming to rest at the base of a tree. Letting out a small, choked sob, she curled under the tree and rocked on her heels.

_Now everyone hates me! _She thought despondently. _All the other kids hate me! The gods hate me! Even Shino-Sis hates me! _She started crying at that thought, which began to repeat like a broken record in her head.

_Shino-Sis hates me! Shino-Sis hates me, Shino-Sis hates me, Shino-Sis hates me, Shino-Sis hates me…_

"W-what did I _do_?" She wailed, curling up tighter. Her stomach felt horrible and twisted into a million knots and she felt like throwing up and- and- and-

_This wouldn't have happened if I didn't touch the crystal! _She thought suddenly- but the thought only served to make her feel even worse. _Why did I even think that I could be special and cool like a god? Of course I couldn't! I'm just a stupid baby human who can't even keep mean older boys from picking on her! I'm Izuna, 'goddess' of stupidity, and failure, and- and… _

She whimpered plaintively, an awfully good impression of a lost puppy crying for its mother. Except that she didn't _have_ a mother, just a big sister who now hated her for some unknown reason. _Probably because I'm so stupid. And impatient and loud and annoying and whiny and-_

She _really _missed that second heart.

But right now, she missed the first one more.

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

"Izuna? Izu-naaa!" Shino called frantically, crashing through the forest undergrowth, relentlessly searching for her young sister. _Oh, please don't say that someone took her! Not like Shizu- _She shook her head to clear that thought. _No. Don't think about that now! You have to find Izuna!_

"I-ZUN-AAAA!" She shouted.

No answer.

She fell to her knees, grimacing with the effort to keep from crying. Great. Some sister she was. Now both of them were gone. _Why the hell did I do that anyway? I would never say such a thing to her! Never!_ _She's my baby sister, I love her! Why…?_

She sniffled slightly, scrubbing away a single tear that ran down her cheek. _Great. Just… great. _She hung her head.

Wait… what was that sound?

She whipped her head towards the source. It sounded like someone… crying?

Izuna.

Shino darted toward the noise, weaving through the forest until she saw the pink-haired ninja's small form curled under a tree.

"Izuna?" Shino called cautiously. The girl under the tree froze- _and rightfully so,_ Shino thought and winced. She slowly walked over and gingerly laid a hand on the girl's side.

_Oh… she's trembling… did I scare her that much? _Shino's throat caught painfully at the notion.

"Izuna? Izuna, sweetie, I'm sorry! I- I didn't mean to- to hit you or yell at you. I…" she trailed off. Izuna wasn't moving, or at least, moving outwards. In fact, she looked like she'd curled even tighter.

"…" Shino swallowed. "I-Izuna?" She tried, gently pulling at her arm in an attempt to get her to unfold. She finally succeeded in removing the girl's arm from her face- only to see Izuna's deep green eyes staring up at her in a mixture of fear and hurt.

"I-I'm so sorry…" The elder ninja whispered, averting her gaze to the ground. "… Please?"

Her clear red eyes flicked back to Izuna's. Her heart sank as she realized that the girl's expression remained unchanged. _No- wait..._ Shino looked again, searching hard for any amount of change, and…

_She's begging me. _Shino realized as she looked into the child's now-clearly beseeching face. _She doesn't want me to be the person that shouted and struck her._

"… Shino-Sis?" Izuna whimpered imploringly, looking up at who she wanted desperately to be her _oneechan_. The elder ninja smiled sweetly, drawing Izuna into a tight hug.

"Yeah, Izuna?" She asked, clasping the child to her chest as though someone might come out of nowhere and steal her away. "It's me, your Shino-Sis. What do you need?"

"…" Izuna suddenly returned the powerful hug, grabbing onto Shino like she was going to bolt away at the least warning. "S-Shino-Sis! Shino-Sis! Shino-Sis Shino-Sis Shino-Sis…" she cried, burying her face into Shino's chest and listening for the familiar _thump-thump_ sound that would tell her for sure if this really was her Shino.

"You- You don't h-hate me?" She asked with a small hiccup, looking up at Shino hopefully.

"I would _never_ hate you, Izuna. You're my little sister, remember?" Shino smiled at the young ninja cuddled in her lap.

Izuna's face broke into the biggest, widest grin that Shino had seen yet. "Yayyy! I love you, Shino-Sis!" She yelled, wrapping her arms around Shino's neck and nuzzling into the side of it.

"I love you too, 'Izuna-Sis'." Shino chuckled. "Love you too."

**END CH. 1**

**A/N: Aaahhhh shameless fluff. ;D But hey, you know me. Cotton candy is a staple of my diet. XD**

**Well? Like? Don't like? Leave a review!**

… **does anybody even really read the currently four (five if ya count this one, and eight if you count crossovers) Izuna fanfics? I really love this game, so… OH FOR THE LOVE OF ALL GODS CAN SOMEONE ELSE HELP CONTRIBUTE TO THIS FANDOM. D: IZUNA IS TOO AWESOME TO HAVE TOO FEW FICS.**


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